Odisha’s Cyber Crime Helpline Made Operational 24X7; Victims Urged To Report Instantly

Bhubaneswar: To ensure immediate action in case of online fraud, cyber crime helpline number – 1930 in Odisha has been made operational 24X7.

The helpline was earlier operational only during office hours, but the victims can now lodge a complaint anytime, the Crime Branch (CB) of Odisha Police said in a statement.

The helpline will have 10 parallel phone lines by the end of August as against the one currently. There will be around 30 operatives and senior officers present to supervise them. The helpline was earlier functional between 10 am and 6 pm.

The Crime Branch has requested the people to dial 1930 without any delay if they fall prey to cyber frauds. Swift reaction is the key to prevent money from getting siphoned off by fraudsters. The complainant will be asked for some relevant information by the helpline operatives who are trained police personnel, it said.

Soon after, a complaint will be generated on the portal and the process to block the bank accounts of the cyber fraudsters launched. The CB is of the opinion that if victims report the fraud immediately, the money getting transferred to the swindlers’ accounts can be prevented to a large extent.

In case the money is already transferred, it can be reverted back to the victim’s account if the complaint is lodged without any delay. As per the information shared by the victims, the telephone numbers of the cyber criminals can also be blocked to stop their further misuse.

Director General of Police (DGP) Sunil Kumar Bansal had reviewed the functioning of the Cyber Crime unit of CID-CB including 1930 helpline number over three months back. During the meeting, Bansal had approved the enhancement of manpower of the Cyber Crime unit and the helpline number.

The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal was launched in 2021 and dial 1930 facility set up in Odisha to report financial cyber crimes over voice call. The helpline, managed by the CB, had succeeded in getting back over Rs 1.56 crore which was fraudulently collected from victims. It had also managed to prevent siphoning off of more than Rs 3.94 crore.

The CB has planned to add more phone lines and enhance the number of caller agents at 1930 helpline centre to ensure quick action.